This application is based on Patent Application Nos. 2000-26109 filed Feb. 3, 2000, 2000-26112 filed Feb. 3, 2000, 2000-26115 filed Feb. 3, 2000, and 2000-26117 filed Feb. 3, 2000, in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
The present invention relates to an inks-and-printing-media-integral-type pack, a printing liquids and sheets container for accommodating sheets and printing liquids, a sheet supplying device for sequentially supplying sheets from the printing liquids and sheets container, and a printing apparatus comprising the same.
The ink jet printing system is carried out by causing fine droplets of inks to fly and adhere to a printing medium such as paper based on various operational principles, to print images, characters, or the like, thereby enabling printing with low noise at a high speed. The ink jet printing system has advantages such as facilitation of multicolor printing and is characterized by a high degree of freedom for recordable patterns, elimination of the necessity of development or fixation, and others. Thus, printing apparatuses based on this system method have been rapidly spread in various fields including that of data processing to accommodate various images and print media.
In addition, images formed by means of the multicolor ink jet printing system can easily stand comparison with multicolor printing based on the plate making system or photographic printing based on the color photographing system. The multicolor ink jet printing system enables images to be produced more inexpensively than normal multicolor printing or photographic printing if a small number of copies are particularly to be printed and is thus widely used in the field of full-color image printing.
To accommodate wider applications of the ink jet printing system and enable the recent improvement of printing characteristics such as an increased printing speed, an improved definition, and full color printing, efforts are being made to improve the printing apparatus and method. Characteristics required to achieve wider applications of the ink jet printing system and improve the printing characteristics include, for example, a high density of printed ink dots, bright and clear color tones, fast ink absorption, prevention of outflow or bleeding of inks despite overlapping ink dots, and spread of ink dots with appropriate bleeding.
It is known that these characteristics are realized not only by the printing apparatus and method but also by improving inks or printing media used for printing.
For example, it is known that a coated paper is used as a printing medium due to ink absorptivity and fixability achieved thereby. The coated paper comprises, for example, a silicon pigment such as silica, or an absorbing polymer including a resin such as colloidal silica, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide-isocyanate crosslinked material, or an acrylic polymer having a carboxyl group, or an aluminum-based pigment such as alumina hydrated compound or aluminum oxide, which is each coated on a paper, a film, a cloth, or the like together with an aqueous binder or the like. On the other hand, inks have their permeability adjusted by means of a surface-active agent or the like contained therein.
To accommodate the improvement of the printing characteristics, however, an optimal combination of printing media and inks which can realize these characteristics is more preferably selected by individually selecting printing media or inks depending on each of the characteristics. This is because the inks and the printing media show each of the characteristics through their mutual relationship.
In this case, to specifically realize the optical combination of the printing media and the inks in an inkjet printing apparatus, configurations and operations are required which replace or install the printing media or the inks depending on a combination of printing media and inks. Additionally, an operation is required for setting printing conditions on, for example, a host computer; for example, a printing mode must be set depending on such a combination. That is, it is cumbersome to carry out the above operations or setting operations each time the combination is switched. It is also difficult for a user to obtain the optimal combination.
In connection with this, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Heisei 11-254700 proposes a media cartridge removably mounted in a printing apparatus and acting as a portable container comprising a cassette section in which sheets are loaded as printing media and a combination of any ink tank or a corresponding waste ink tank for accommodating a waste ink, the cassette section and the combination being integrated together. The printing apparatus then recognizes the media cartridge, which can be arbitrarily installed therein and removed therefrom, to automatically set a printing mode set depending on the printing media and the ink so that appropriate printing control can be provided depending on the combination of the printing media and the ink, using easy operations.
In a printing apparatus in which such a media cartridge is installed, a sheet supplying device provided in the printing apparatus main body discharges in turn each sheet such as paper or a textile outward from the media cartridge toward a position under an ink jet printing head for executing a printing operation.
The sheet supplying device includes a roller that comes into contact with a surface of the sheet at a predetermined pressure to transmit the sheet based on a friction force applied between the sheet and the roller. An outer peripheral portion of the roller is formed of a material such as natural rubber, silicon rubber, or artificial leather, for example, which has a relatively large friction coefficient and a wear resistance.
(1) Although, however, the above publication describes the media cartridge comprising the cassette for housing printing media and the ink tanks, the cassette and the ink tanks being integrated together, it describes no specific configuration that takes into account the size reduction of the apparatus or the handling and application of the cartridge in configuring a printing apparatus employing the cartridge.
It neither takes the materials or compositions of both printing media and inks into consideration nor suggests combinations that can achieve the above described desired printing characteristics based on such materials or compositions. That is, in the above publication, if for a paper cartridge, paper is set as printing media, corresponding inks are set to comprise a process liquid and black, yellow, magenta, and cyan inks. On the other hand, if coat paper, glossy paper, or OHP sheets are set as printing media, the corresponding inks are set to comprise the above inks excluding the process liquid. These settings take into account the fact that the above coat paper or the like having an ink receiving layer coated thereon has reduced image quality if the process liquid, which insolubilizes the inks, is used. Further, the above publication describes a setting for dark black, light black, dark yellow, light yellow, dark magenta, light magenta, dark cyan, and light cyan provided when a photographic-image-quality mode is set.
Thus, the above publication discloses the integral cartridge comprising a combination of inks selected, depending on the printing media or printing mode, from several types of inks that are easily distinguished from one another by a user. On the other hand, due to, for example, dye affinity, appropriate compositions of inks vary depending on the material or composition of printing media though the latter all appear the same to the user; thus, optimal combinations exist in this sense. In this case, it is almost impossible for the user to select such combinations.
Another problem results from the fact that many known ink jet printing apparatuses have more or less specified printing characteristics. Thus, in this case, it is relatively difficult to meet the above described requirements for the various printing characteristics.
For example, with respect to the characteristics of the printing head, the life in itself which serve to determine the printing characteristics.
If the printing head is very frequently used, its durability must be increased. Similarly, the required characteristic of the inks includes their easy removal from the nozzles by means of a recovery operation or the like even in a case where recording is not carried out for a somewhat long time or the unlikelihood of variations in their compositions or colors. Since the characteristics of the ink jet recording apparatus is restricted by the above factors, an attempt to provide an ink jet printing apparatus with all the characteristics tends to result in the increased size or costs of the apparatus. Thus, ink jet printer makers or the like manufacture and sell printers that have their characteristics adapted, for example, to users who very frequently use them, to those who require high-grade and quality images, or to those who use them in a low or high-temperature environment, that is, the capabilities of these printers are limited to within certain ranges to meet such demands. Thus, if a user having an ink jet printer with a characteristic A is to execute printing with another characteristic B and when the user sets a special mode to adapt the printer to the characteristic B, this adaptation is limited. Consequently, to accommodate the characteristic B, the user has no other choice but to purchase another printer with that characteristics.
The present invention is adapted to solve these problems, and it is a first object thereof to provide an inks-and-printing-media-integral-type pack that enables printing with various characteristics to be accomplished using a simple configuration, that is configured taking the size of the apparatus into consideration, and that can be handled easily, as well as a printing apparatus comprising the inks-and-printing-media-integral-type pack.
(2) In addition, (a) for a form of an ink jet printer in which a media cartridge is installed in and removed from a recording apparatus, when the media cartridge is not installed for convenience and easier handling thereof, it is desirable that printing be executed on those other than the sheets housed in the media cartridge.
(b) the media cartridge desirably internally has a closed space in order to prevent sheets housed therein from being modified, and
(c) various sheets accommodated in the media cartridge may have different degrees of rigidity but it is difficult to appropriately change, depending on the rigidity of the sheet, a separating means operating in the sheet supplying device to reliably sequentially separate sheets one by one, so that the separating means is fixed to a single type of sheets. Consequently, there is a limit to the function of reliably separating various sheets one by one for sheet-by-sheet feeding.
In view of these points, it is a second object of the present invention to provide a printing liquids and sheets container for accommodating sheets and printing liquids, a sheet supplying device for sequentially supplying the sheets from the printing liquids and sheets container, and a printing apparatus comprising the same, wherein they can be conveniently and easily operated and enable sheets to be optimally and stably separated one by one depending on the rigidity of various sheets.
(3) Furthermore, the surfaces of various sheets accommodated in the media cartridge have different friction characteristics and it is difficult to appropriately change the type of a roller of the sheet supplying device depending on the friction characteristic of the sheet surface, so that an outer peripheral portion of the roller is formed of a single fixed type of material. Consequently, the roller may not optimally and stably supply the sheets depending on the characteristics of the surfaces of the various sheets.
In addition, the roller is made of a material having a high wear resistance but has a predetermined lifetime. Thus, if the lifetime is over, it is necessary that the roller can be easily replaced with a new one.
In view of these points, it is a third object of the present invention to provide a printing liquids and sheets container, a sheet supplying device, and a printing apparatus comprising the same which enable sheets to be optimally and stably supplied depending on the characteristics of the surfaces of the various sheets and which also enable the roller to be easily replaced with a new one.
(4) The only information held by the media cartridge disclosed in the above publication is ID (identification data) data, which are required to allow the cartridge to be recognized by the printing apparatus. Thus, if a new combination of inks and printing media is developed after the printing apparatus has been put on the market, then printing cannot be controlled using printing control parameters optimal for the combination unless programs in the printing apparatus are changed. Consequently, for example, makers cannot conventionally sell new media cartridges comprising such a new combination of inks and printing media.
Additionally, the printing apparatus cannot determine how many printing media remain in the media cartridge, so that the user can neither recognize the number of remaining printing media. This is a disadvantage of the user interface.
The present invention is adapted to solve the above problems, and it is a fourth object of the present invention to provide an inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack wherein various effective information for a printing apparatus or the like as required as well as and a printing apparatus comprising the pack.
To attain the above described first object, the present invention provides an integral-type pack housing inks and printing media, characterized in that the pack comprises a first portion and a second portion covering part of the first portion, the first and second portions each forming the pack, an opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the second portion relative to the part of the first portion, and an opening portion formed in the part of the first section covered by the second portion and in which the printing media appears when the latter are housed in the first portion, and in that the if the opening and closing mechanism opens the second portion, a conveying force output from a conveying mechanism forming section for conveying the printing media acts directly or indirectly on the printing media through the opening portion.
Additionally, the present invention provides an integral-type pack housing inks and printing media, characterized in that the pack comprises a first portion and a second portion covering part of the first portion, the first and second portions each forming the pack, an opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the second portion relative to the part of the first portion, and an opening portion formed in the part of the first section covered by the second portion and in which the printing media appears when the latter are housed in the first portion.
Preferably, the present invention is characterized in that the second portion can house inks.
In another embodiment, there is provided an ink jet printing apparatus that uses a printing head for ejecting an ink to eject the ink from the printing head to printing media for printing, the apparatus being characterized by comprising installation means for removably installing an integral-type pack comprising a first portion and a second portion covering part of the first portion, the first and second portions each forming the pack, an opening and closing mechanism for opening and closing the second portion relative to the part of the first portion, and an opening portion formed in the part of the first section covered by the second portion and in which the printing media appears when the latter are housed in the first portion, the installation means opening the second portion in response to the installation operation, and sheet feeding means that can at least partly contact with the printing media appearing in the opening portion in the first portion when the installation means installs the pack.
Preferably, the present invention is characterized in that the second portion can house inks.
According to the above configuration, the integral-type pack housing the inks and the printing media is divided into the first and second portions, the first portion houses the printing media, while the second portion houses the inks, and the second portion can be opened and closed relative to the part of the first portion.
Accordingly, the pack can be formed such that the second portion housing the inks overlap the part of the first portion housing the printing media.
In addition, since the pack has the opening portion in which the printing media housed in the part of the first portion appear, when the pack is installed in an ink jet printing apparatus, the second portion is opened to uncover the opening portion, while allowing the printing media from the opening portion to come in contact with the sheet feeding means.
Further, since the second portion can be opened and closed relative to the first portion, the pack can be configured such that the second portion can be opened in response to an operation of installing the pack.
To attain the above described second object, a printing liquids and sheets container according to the present invention is characterized in that the container comprises a case main body section removably disposed in a conveying mechanism forming section for conveying sheets to a printing section that performs a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets using printing liquids, a sheet accommodating section formed in the case main body section to accommodate the sheets, and a liquid accommodating section formed in the case main body section to accommodate the liquids, and in that the sheets taken out from the sheet accommodating section are discharged when a conveying force output from the conveying mechanism forming section acts on the sheets through a sheet discharging opening portion formed in the case main body section.
Additionally, a sheet supplying device according to the present invention comprises a portable container comprising an accommodation section removably disposed in a conveying mechanism forming section for conveying sheets to a printing section that performs a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets using printing liquids, the accommodation section housing the sheets and the liquids, and a sheet discharging opening portion through which the sheets are discharged from the accommodation section; a feeding roller disposed in the conveying mechanism forming section for taking out the sheets through the sheet discharging opening portion and discharging them; and drive means for driving the feeding roller if the portable container is installed in the conveying mechanism forming section.
Furthermore, a printing apparatus comprising a sheet supplying device according to the present invention comprises the above described sheet supplying device, a conveying mechanism forming section having a portable container removably disposed therein, for conveying a sheet discharged from the portable container to a printing section for performing a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets, and a control section for controlling operations of the sheet supplying device, the conveying mechanism forming section, and the printing section.
To attain the above described third embodiment, a printing liquids and sheets container according to the present invention comprises a portable container comprising an accommodation section removably disposed in a conveying mechanism forming section for conveying sheets to a printing section that performs a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets using printing liquids, the accommodation section housing the sheets and the liquids, and a sheet discharging opening portion through which the sheets are discharged from the accommodation section; and a feeding roller disposed in the conveying mechanism forming section depending on a type of sheets, for taking out and discharging the sheets through the sheet discharging opening portion.
A sheet supplying device according to the present invention comprises a portable container comprising an accommodation section removably disposed in a conveying mechanism forming section for conveying sheets to a printing section that performs a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets using printing liquids, the accommodation section housing the sheets and the liquids, and a sheet discharging opening portion through which the sheets are discharged from the accommodation section; a feeding roller disposed in the conveying mechanism forming section depending on a type of sheets, for taking out the sheets through the sheet discharging opening portion and discharging them; and drive means for driving the feeding roller if the portable container is installed in the conveying mechanism forming section. A printing apparatus comprising a sheet supplying device according to the present invention comprises the above described sheet supplying device, a conveying mechanism forming section having a portable container removably disposed therein, for conveying a sheet discharged from the portable container to a printing section for performing a printing operation on printing surfaces of the sheets, and a control section for controlling operations of the sheet supplying device, the conveying mechanism forming section, and the printing section.
To accomplish the above described fourth object, the present invention provides an inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack that can accommodate inks and printing media used in a printing apparatus, the pack being characterized by comprising storage means that enables information on the pack to be rewritten.
The present invention provides a printing apparatus that uses an inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack accommodating inks and printing media and that can record images using the inks and printing media supplied from the ink-and-printing media-integral-type pack, the printing apparatus being characterized in that as the above inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack, the inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack of the present invention can be used.
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the integral-type pack housing the inks and the printing media is divided into the first and second portions, the first portion houses the printing media, while the second portion houses the inks, and the second portion can be opened and closed relative to the part of the first portion. Accordingly, the pack can be formed such that the second portion housing the inks overlap the part of the first portion housing the printing media.
In addition, since the pack has the opening portion in which the printing media housed in the part of the first portion appear, when the pack is installed in an ink jet printing apparatus, the second portion is opened to uncover the opening portion, while allowing the printing media from the opening portion to come in contact with the sheet feeding means.
Further, since the second portion can be opened and closed relative to the first portion, the pack can be configured such that the second portion can be opened in response to an operation of installing the pack.
As a result, printing can be achieved with a simple configuration in such a manner as to exhibit various printing characteristics, and in particular, there are provided an inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack that takes the size of the apparatus into account and that can be handled easily, as well as an ink jet printing apparatus that allows this integral-type pack to be installed therein.
According to the present invention, sheets taken out from the sheet accommodating section are discharged by causing the conveying force output from the conveying mechanism forming section to act on the sheets through the sheet discharging opening portion formed in a case main body section. Consequently, the sheets are discharged while the printing liquids and sheets container remains installed. Therefore, the present invention provides improved convenience.
Additionally, the present invention further comprises a cover member disposed in the case main body section so as to be opened and closed relative to the sheet discharging opening portion, the cover member selectively covering the sheet discharging opening portion, and the cover member further comprises a guide member guided while engaging with an engagement section in response to an operation of installing the case main body section, the engagement section being separated from a portion of the conveying mechanism forming section in which a sheet accommodating section of the case main body section is arranged, so that the cover member is automatically shifted from a closed state to an open state relative to the sheet discharging opening portion by means of cooperation between the guide member and the engagement section, thereby accomplishing easier handling.
Further, sheet separating means is provided at an end portion of a sheet discharging section of the sheet accommodating section to sequentially discharge sheets discharged from the sheet accommodating section after separating them sheet by sheet, and a separating surface acting as the sheet separating means is set depending on rigidity of the sheets housed in the sheet accommodating section. Consequently, the sheets can be optimally and stably separated one by one depending on the rigidity of the various sheets.
According to the present invention, the feeding roller is disposed in the portable container depending on the type of the sheets, for discharging them through the opening portion. As a result, the sheets can be optimally and stably supplied depending on characteristics of surfaces of the various sheets and the roller can be easily replaced with a new one.
According to the present invention, the inks-and-printing media-integral-type pack comprises the storage means that enables information on the pack to be rewritten. Therefore, various information can be stored in the pack as required so as to be effectively used for the pack, the printing apparatus, or the like.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.